Scheduled seating capacity of airlines on UAE routes grew year-on-year by over 67% in 2022

As the recovery in aviation continues at a steady pace, the scheduled seating capacity of airlines on the UAE routes grew year-on-year in 2022, although at a slower pace. Scheduled seating capacity reached 63.89 million this year as against 38.16 million last year, up by 67.4 per cent, according to the latest data released by global travel data provider OAG. When compared with 2020, the seating capacity has almost doubled from 32.28 million to 63.78 million, an increase of 97.6 per cent.

The seating capacity when compared to the pre-pandemic year, is still 15.9 per cent below the 2019 level when airlines’ seating capacity on the UAE route reached 75.78 million. After the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, airlines were grounded and airports were shut down in order to combat the disease. The UAE had also taken steps in 2020 in line with global healthy safety guidelines and restricted airlines’ movements.

Dubai, which was among the first to reopen after Covid-19, has recovered very well post-pandemic. Data released in November showed DXB traffic returning to pre-pandemic level in the third quarter. Hence, Dubai Airports revised upward passenger traffic forecast for 2022 following strong passenger traffic in the previous quarters.The airport operator raised its forecast for 2022 by 1.5 million to 64.3 million after 

According to OAG, Dubai International Airport also remained the busiest airport for international flights in December 2022 with 4.6 million seats, an increase of eight per cent compared to the previous month, followed by London Heathrow Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Sahil Sharma, business head of Innovations Group, expects travel and tourism and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) will assist the aviation sector in UAE to continue its steady growth in 2023. Globally, there will be 4.7 billion scheduled seats by the end of 2022, OAG said.